A real second chance
by evincis
Summary: Here is how I would have imagined a real second chance for August. He paid too great a price. AU for Selfless, Brave and True. This is more or less what should have happened last Sunday. Wooden Swan.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of these characters. This story is for entertainment purposes only and has no commercial aim. Please do not publish without my explicit consent_

_AN/ After the drama form "Selfless, Brave and True" I was very sad to see August go. Especially after I heard the way that he said her name before he died. Even though the producers have decided to lay off of him, I will always consider that he and Emma were meant to be._

_Here is what could (and maybe should) have happened._

"Emma…" The way that August said her name made Emma cry. It was as if he had too many things to tell her and too little time. She had held back the tears until now but she couldn't any more. The entire day had been overwhelming for her. After her mother had taken her to the trailer where August had spent the past months, she had been taken back in the past. Everything in there reminded her of him and she realized just how much she had missed him. Mary Margaret had told her how ashamed he had been of talking to her and Emma wanted to help him. She had been angry that he had meddled in her life but she realized that he had borne too great a burden his entire life. Just like her. And he had taken the road to redemption. He had helped her against Regina without asking for anything in return. And when he'd told her the truth about the curse, she'd pushed him away.

"August." She whispered kneeling next to him. She felt like she was looking at him turning into wood once again. She took his hand in hers.

"Emma, she…" He approached his face to hers. "She is…" He tried to warn her about someone, probably the person who had done that to him but he did not have enough strength.

"No." Marco cried.

"Not again." Emma whispered and stroked his face with her hand. "Please, no."

"August?" Neal approached.

"Someone killed him in order to stop him from telling us something. He used his dying breath to warn us." Emma wiped her tears. "I will not let that be in vain, Marco. You have my word." Everyone could see the determination in her eyes. Determination that Mary Margaret knew expressed feelings that Emma had been pushing back for months.

"It can't end this way. He was supposed to get a second chance." Mary Margaret said.

They all remained silent. Emma was still on the ground. She laid her head on August's chest and sobbed silently.

"Brave, Truthful and Unselfish." They heard Henry whisper. "Brave, Truthful and Unselfish. Emma, don't you see what this means?"

"What?" Emma couldn't understand what Henry was trying to say.

"Brave, Truthful and Unselfish. That is what Pinocchio was always supposed to be. There is still hope. You have to try."

"Try what?" Henry wasn't making any sense. "Use magic? Henry, I can't turn him real. We need the Blue Fairy."

"There is no time. You have to try." Henry tried to convince her.

"How…" Mary Margaret gave her a look. She knew better than anyone the dynamics of her relationship with August. "Do you think it can work?"

"I have observed you too enough." She said. "Besides, what do you have to lose?"

Emma looked at August. She traced the features of his face. She thought about how much she had missed him. About how close they had been before she had blown him off in the forest. She thought about what he had done today: he had tried to warn them about someone and given up his life for that. She thought about the pain that she felt in her heart at the moment. This had to work. She needed him now with everything happening in Storybrooke. She needed him to have his second chance.

With all these thoughts in her head she approached her face to his. She was afraid. What if she didn't succeed? No. She had to. There was no chance in hell that she was losing August. Finally she pressed her lips against his. They moment that their lips touched, she felt the tears fall down her face and soak the wood.

"Don't leave. Please." She whispered. She had never been one to express feelings but she couldn't take it any more. She didn't care that her parents were watching them. Or his father. Or her son. Or her ex. All that she cared about was that she was losing someone that she cared about and maybe even loved. No, not maybe. She'd had felt love before. Only it hadn't been that strong or unconditional.

Emma opened her eyes and realized that nothing had changed.

"Why isn't this working?" She said in panic. She had closed her heart to love for so many years. Maybe she didn't have it in her to love August enough to save him.

"Don't think about why you want him back. Think about why it is the best for him." David shared a lesson that he had learned years ago. "You can do it." He gave her a reassuring look.

Emma looked at August again. He deserved a second chance. If not for himself, than for his father. All he had ever wanted had been to make his father proud. And he had tried to make up for his mistakes. He deserved a chance to continue. He deserved that everyone see him the way she saw him: as a good man, kind and brave. A man who made her believe in true love. She leaned forward and kissed him again. "Please come back to us. Come back to me. I forgave you for everything. Forgive yourself." With that she kissed him again. Her tears kept falling on his face soaking the wood.

When she pulled away, she noticed that his face had slowly begun to change. Wood turned progressively into flesh and she recognized his features.

"Emma." He said her name in which only he could. A way that showed her how special she was to him. "You saved me."

"Did you ever doubt I could?" Emma answered unaware of the fact that these were the exact words that her parents had exchanged every time that they had saved each other.

"Not even for a second. But next time, try to arrive before I get electrocuted to death." Only he could make joked about his own death.

"I promise." She smiled and kissed him again. He kissed her back and they forgot for a minute that they weren't alone.

"My son." Marco spoke. It wasn't until then that Emma remembered that they were surrounded by other people.

"Father." August smiled.

"My boy. I am so happy. And so proud." The woodcrafter said crying. "Today you proved that you are a good person."

"I still have a long way to go, father. But I will get there. I promise." August got up and hugged his father.

"I hate to be the one to ruin the moment but you were about to tell us something. Warn us about someone." David spoke.

"Indeed. It's your fiancée." August turned to Neal. "She is here to steal the magic from Storybrooke. She tried to kill me because I was the only one who knows that."

"How do you know Tamara?" Neal asked.

"We met in Hong Kong when I discovered a man who knew about our world and practiced magic. She must have followed me in New York when I came to talk to you last November when I came back to the States." August explained.

"That's not possible. You are lying. It wouldn't be the first time." Neal snapped at him.

"Neal." Emma spoke. "No need to be hostile."

"Tell that to him." Her ex-boyfriend spoke.

"I'm not lying." August said. "Emma, you can tell whether someone is telling the truth. Look at me. Look at me and you'll see that I'm not lying." Emma observed him for a second. Her gut had rarely betrayed her. And she knew August.

"I believe him." She finally said.

"I can't believe it." Neal said. "Emma, if you have a problem with Tamara, just say it. Wait a minute, are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Of your engagement?" Emma became a little irritated. "Maybe you missed the past half hour, but I'm pretty sure I just proved that I was in love with someone else. So, to answer your question – no, I'm not jealous. But I don't trust her. You barely know her and you brought her here putting us all in danger. I didn't do it before out of respect for you. But now I'm going to talk to her and check why she is here. It is within my duties of sheriff to ensure the safety of this town. And if one of the citizens of this town accuses her of attacking him, I have to open an investigation. And if you stand in my way, I'll have David arrest you for obstruction of justice." Emma realized how different her reaction had been from the usual.

"Fine. But you are wrong about her."

"We'll see." Emma said and started walking toward the cruiser making a sign to her parents to follow her. "Henry, stay with Mary Margeret. David - with me."

"I'm coming too." August followed her.

"No. Stay with your father. You've been through a lot today. David and I got this." Emma said.

"I know. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't help. I've been running my entire life. The reason why I came through the wardrobe was so that you wouldn't have to do everything alone. I made a promise 29 years ago and now that I got a second chance, I am going to start making good on it." He smiled at her. "Let's do this as we should have been doing it until now – together." He offered her is hand. She took it and nodded.

"All right. Let's go."

_AN/ Here we go. I haven't included the confrontation between Emma and Tamara. If this is something that you would like to read, let me know._

_What did you think of the story? It's far from perfect but I thought that something like this could have happened on the show. I know that the way that they did it, Tamara stays hidden for a while longer but August didn't deserve to die. He had to be with Emma. s_


End file.
